Beautiful Monsters
by sinking like stones
Summary: Azula transcends destruction and embodies creation when she hatches dragons for the first time in over a century. She sets out to rule the world with the help of her children, but Ty Lee shatters Azula's schemes when one of the dragons imprints on her instead of the princess. [For the TRF DragonMother!Azula Challenge]
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is a story for the TRF DragonMother!Azula Challenge. It's going to be pretty long judging by how much I have planned out in my head. The rating might go up. This is just the prologue; the upcoming chapters will be longer (at least 1.5k words). Thank you and I hope you enjoy!**

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 **Beautiful Monsters**

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Ty Lee has always loved monsters.

For as long as she can remember, she has wanted to kiss them instead of slay them. She wanted the dragon to abduct her and it would ravish her and fall in love with her and she would want it instead of the noble and heroic samurai who would come rescue her.

Perhaps she wants to be held prisoner by Azula. The princess has not harmed her yet, despite the chains.

Right now, she watches a fire and three stones in it breathlessly with Azula beside her. The princess reaches right in and touches the jewel-hued eggs. She makes the flames burn blue and Ty Lee cannot look away. She thinks she is _incapable_ of averting her eyes.

The princess sweats and trembles. Ty Lee has never seen her like that before.

"They have to make it," Azula whispers. "They will. They must have resilience…" Azula mutters other words that Ty Lee does not hear.

 _Pop. Snap. Pop. Snap. Crack. Shatter. Piece. Cry. Wailing_. The cries remind Ty Lee of human babes, but they are just off enough to give her chills. It is uncanny.

Azula cuts open her hand without hesitation and offers it towards the flames. It is what the books said the mothers of dragons did. She hopes the scribes did not lie. Two of the three dragons, the size of human babies but able to stumble around on their newly discovered legs, walk towards the scent and step from the fire.

One collapses. Ty Lee does not think about the sick sound of the monsters lapping at and sucking on Azula's _blood_ , or about the fact that fire hurts and burns when you touch it. She reaches in, ignoring burns on her hands, and pulls the little dragon out. She directs it towards Azula, towards the drink it needs, but…

It cries at Ty Lee instead.

Azula's eyes pierce into Ty Lee's soul as she glares.

Ty Lee knows now that she has done something horrifically wrong.

Especially since a newborn red dragon is pressing expectantly against her hand, and not her Queen's hand.

xxxxx

An hour later, in Azula's chambers, her dragons sleep as she paces. Ty Lee kneels before her Queen and hopes this is not as bad as she thinks.

"He imprinted on you instead of me. You understand the problem with that, don't you? A prisoner of war cannot be a mother of one of my… babies," Azula says sharply.

Ty Lee chokes. She hopes this does not go wrong.

"Please don't hurt me," Ty Lee whispers and Azula straightens, looking startled.

"I don't want to ever hurt you. I _do_ hate that I now need you, but you must help me. There are only three dragons in existence and now one of them thinks you are his mother," Azula says, walking towards her kneeling subject. "Do you want me to be Phoenix Queen?"

"Yes," Ty Lee says. "Yes, my Queen."

"And are you willing to do anything for your new child?" Azula asks coolly.

"Yes, my Queen," Ty Lee whispers.

Azula pivots and kneels before her own captive. "Do you want to be more than my prisoner?"

"Yes, my Queen." Ty Lee is still stunned by Azula kneeling in front of her, at eye level with her.

Azula sets two fingers under Ty Lee's chin and lifts it so their eyes meet. "Do you always get what you want, Ty Lee?"

"Yes, my Queen," Ty Lee whispers. Azula caresses her face and it is perfection.

"Good. So do I," Azula purrs, and she stands and walks to the dragons in their cradle she had built. "Address me as _my love_ not _my Queen_. I'd prefer it from you. You will be my wife if you mothered my son. It's only right. And I have always loved you. I imagine we can spark a new fire from the embers of our old adolescent fling."

Ty Lee hides her excitement. She should not be that thrilled about wedding Azula, but it feels a bit like a dream come true.

Then again, while Ty Lee believes Azula, she does know that Azula's thirst for power would make her sacrifice anything in her way. Even Ty Lee.

Azula takes the red dragon, the one that imprinted on Ty Lee, and it screeches at her. The Queen takes her knife and sets the dragon in front of Ty Lee.

She hands it to her captive.

"Go on," Azula says. "Prove your loyalty and feed him."

Ty Lee takes it, squeezes her eyes shut, and slices open her own palm.

xxxxxx

 _to be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

It is something out of a fairy tale. A dark, twisted one perhaps, but it has princesses, towers, dragons and love. No matter how crooked and perverse, it feels like a fable to Ty Lee.

Azula just wants what is rightfully hers, and her dragons reassure her that she is deserving. That burning drive preoccupies her at every moment, as it has for five years. Her crown was stolen from her head when she was nine by her greedy father – he made her entire family face exile. Of course, Azula ran from them; they held her back. She wanted to claim the Fire Nation; they wanted to remain hidden.

Shortly after running, she had been in the care of a man named Jeong Jeong. He was a traitor by choice while she was one by birth, but they got along well. He honed her firebending; she pestered him with too many questions.

It was Jeong Jeong who had initial possession of the dragon eggs. They were more like _gemstones_ at the time, but the idea of dragons captivated a young Princess Azula. He let her look at them, but he never let her touch them.

Azula moved on from Jeong Jeong when she was eleven, and she passed into the care of a disgraced former commander by the name of Zhao. He was a past pupil of Azula's master – a master Azula felt she had surpassed – and he came to find some kind of glory.

Surprisingly, he did. He found a princess who could gain him power if he used her right. She found a man who could gain her power if she used him right.

He stole the gems – the eggs – to potentially sell for a fortune. Azula held onto them. They were hers, in her twisted young mind.

Azula met Ty Lee when she was thirteen and still under the "protection" of Zhao. It was then that things began to go in unanticipated directions. Princess Azula had her old friend as a prisoner.

They were each other's first crush. It was silly and they were too young for that to mean anything, but it did linger. Everyone has a place in their heart for their first love. Ty Lee believed in destiny; Azula believed in her divine right to rule.

The day Ty Lee was abducted, Azula said, "Thank you," to Zhao and guided her old friend to her cabin on the rogue warship. It smelled like Ty Lee's childhood, vaguely, but some portion of the scent was slightly off. It was an uncanny feeling.

Ty Lee remembers the first time she saw the stones. They were surrounded by candles in various states of decay, and incense that was too smoky. Ty Lee, like most people who laid eyes on them, struggled to look away. Yet, Azula drew her attention and she lost her focus on the glimmering gems.

Azula asked, "How did you end up out there? Stop looking at those stones. They are nothing. Answer my question; you _are_ my prisoner."

"Oh!" Ty Lee eagerly divulged. "I ran away and joined the circus!"

Princess Azula laughed. "Tell me the truth."

Ty Lee grinned. She looked more innocent than any other person Azula had met before in her life. It was a strange sight.

"I'm telling the truth," Ty Lee said, hugging Azula for the third time. "I missed you!"

Azula frowned. "You barely know me," she said, pushing Ty Lee away from her. "But I see no reason why we cannot catch up."

Ty Lee smiled and nodded. Yet, her expression turned to one of concern very quickly. She could not conceal how frightening it had been to be snatched up by traitor soldiers and put in chains.

"I'm a prisoner, aren't I?" Ty Lee whispered nervously. She was afraid to even say it aloud; that might make it real.

"You are," Azula said casually. "You are also my friend. Those two things can coexist, I am certain."

Ty Lee nodded, although she did not know if she believed Azula or not. Azula was never the most trustworthy person in the world.

"Why am I a prisoner? I'm not important," Ty Lee inquired softly. Azula wondered if Ty Lee had overstepped her bounds, but Azula forgave her either way. She would be a most generous Fire Lord.

"You were a gift," Azula said. "Zhao likes to give me things, the poor man. He thinks I am his chance at regaining power he never had in the Fire Nation. Before he met me, he was disgraced and stripped of his titles. Not unlike my own father."

She looked quite grim after that, and Ty Lee twitched to hug her again before reconsidering.

"He's using you?" Ty Lee asked. She quickly regretted it, due to the look that sparked into Azula's eyes.

" _I_ am using _him_. By making him think he is using me," Azula stated coolly. Ty Lee did not understand how that worked, but she nodded and pretended to get it. "He is beneficial to my cause."

"What cause?" Ty Lee smiled brightly. Azula felt oddly and inexplicably at ease around her. The princess had never felt that way about someone before.

"My throne. _The_ throne, I suppose, but it will be mine before the comet arrives, I assure you," Azula said, her rosy lips contorting into a small, evil smile.

Ty Lee almost swooned and she did not understand that reaction. But really; it was _super_ attractive. Azula had, uh, grown up since Ty Lee saw her last. They were dumb childhood sweethearts then; there was something more powerful now that neither of them would admit.

"So, Zhao wants you to give him power?" Ty Lee tilted her head to the side like a puppy. Azula checked the lock on the door and wondered why she was explaining this to _anyone_. It had been in her head for two years without her needing to breathe a word of it.

"Yes," Azula said, deciding allies were a fine thing to have. "I think he might intend to marry be, but I will be reigning over the entire world before he gets _close_ to having a chance."

Azula sat down beside Ty Lee on the bed. Their fingers crept towards each other before flying apart. They both pretended not to notice.

They might have been about to kiss. Azula did not really know.

Ty Lee had kissed her two times. Zhao had kissed her three times.

Azula wanted to even the score, but she barely knew the girl beside her. It obviously was not the same as when they were little children.

Ignoring that desire, she ordered Ty Lee to prepare the cabin for the night, and, of course, Ty Lee did as she was told.

Ty Lee lay on the floor once Azula stifled the candles. It was only right for Azula to be on the bed and her prisoner on the rug.

After ten minutes of tossing and turning, "Ty Lee, come lie beside me. I am cold," Azula articulately ordered. It was an obvious lie, but who cared?

Ty Lee brightly obeyed. They lay beside each other in silence for some time before Azula worked up the courage to kiss Ty Lee on the lips. It was numb and awkward. Too fast and almost felt like they dreamed it.

But it was real.

xxxxxx

Currently, one year after that night, Ty Lee is trying to figure out what to name her dragon-son. She sits in Azula's fortress, within the Dragon Queen's personal chambers. And trying to figure out how to care for the creature that imprinted on her.

She hopes she can love him well eno9ugh.

She hopes she will not disappoint Azula.

Azula, mother of dragons now. Azula, Queen of the World eventually. Ty Lee's longtime capture and longer-time best friend.

Ty Lee kisses her little boy's cold forehead and he seems to like it. He curls up on her lap.

That is a very good sign.

xxxxxx

 _to be continued..._


End file.
